Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Down 5.1% – Here’s Why

Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) shares fell 5.1% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $457.79 and last traded at $463.1510. 2,202,233 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 27% from the average session volume of 3,025,980 shares. The stock had previously closed at $488.21.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on CIEN. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Ciena from $350.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price target on Ciena in a report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays raised their price objective on Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on Ciena in a research note on Friday, May 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 price objective for the company. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $530.56.

Ciena Stock Down 5.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $516.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $355.71. The company has a market cap of $65.34 billion, a PE ratio of 154.27 and a beta of 1.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.Ciena’s revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $565.92, for a total value of $1,670,595.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 269,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,547,697.44. The trade was a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.65, for a total value of $684,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 43,941 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,074,931.65. This represents a 2.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 44,174 shares of company stock valued at $19,502,359 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ciena in the first quarter valued at $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Ciena by 139.6% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 3,061 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 1.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in Ciena by 14.6% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $348,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in Ciena in the second quarter valued at $234,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company develops high-capacity optical transport systems and packet-optical platforms that enable service providers, cloud operators and large enterprises to build, manage and scale their networks. Ciena’s product portfolio includes coherent optical solutions, packet networking platforms and a suite of network automation software designed to optimize bandwidth, reduce latency and simplify network operations.

In addition to hardware offerings, Ciena provides professional services and support, including network design, implementation and ongoing maintenance.